More than 400 real estate industry players have been indicted since March -- including dozens over the last two days -- in a Justice Department crackdown on incidents of mortgage fraud that have contributed to the country's housing crisis.

The FBI put the losses to homeowners and other borrowers who were victims in the schemes at over $1 billion.

"Mortgage fraud and related securities fraud pose a significant threat to our economy, to the stability of our nation's housing market and to the peace of mind to millions of Americans," Deputy Attorney General Mark Filip said in a statement today.

In the Portland area, prosecutors highlighted three cases of alleged mortgage fraud, saying the defendants put together 200 or more questionable mortgage deals during the boom years.

A federal grand jury yesterday returned a 15-count indictment against Marty Folwick, of Portland. Folwick, 50, was charged with mail fraud, bank fraud and money laundering.

On the same day, prosecutors charged Lee Howlett, 45, also of Portland, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, aggravated identify theft and money laundering.

And on May 27, prosecutors charged Jeremy Richardson, 31, of Ridgefield, Wash., with one count of wire fraud.

The three cases have much in common. All three of the defendants allegedly engineered a series of fraudulent mortgage deals with the help of straw buyers. They allegedly falsified loan applications to induce lenders to approve mortgage loans. Prosecutors claim some used bogus appraisals to justify higher loan amounts then the house was actually selling for and would then pocket the difference between the house price and loan amount.

Some also took kickbacks on each deal, prosecutors claim.

Folwick worked for Lighthouse Financial Group, a Vancouver, Wash. mortgage broker. He also ran his own company, MG Financial.

Prosecutors allege that Folwick took $180,000 in kickbacks for the five mortgage deals detailed in his indictment. Officials in the U.S. attorneys office in Portland are continuing to investigate Folwick and Lighthouse in the belief that he was involved in other questionable deals.

In a 2007 civil lawsuit, a lender claimed Folwick was involved in as many as 70 fraudulent mortgage deals.

Richardson alleged found his buyers on Craig's List. It is believed that Richardson did 100 or more mortgage deals. He allegedly used his clients' down payment money for various personal and business expenses.

Howlett worked for a company called Taylor Made Realty. His wife, Lisa Howlett, owned a mortgage company called Taylor Made Mortgage. It surrendered its license to the state in January 2007.

Since the beginning of March, 406 people have been arrested coast-to-coast in the sting dubbed "Operation Malicious Mortgage." Sixty people were arrested yesterday.

In a separate sweep, two former Bear Stearns managers in New York were indicted today, becoming the first executives to face criminal charges related to the collapse of the subprime mortgage market.

Nationwide, reports of mortgage fraud have soared over the past year as the subprime mortgage market collapsed and defaults and foreclosures soared.